'Nosferatu' Director's Skull Stolen From German Grave (Report)

Authorities believe the skull of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau was stolen from a cemetery outside of Berlin.

The skull of director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, best known for vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), has disappeared from his grave in Stahnsdorf, outside of Berlin, German media reports said citing authorities.

The skull was discovered to be missing on Monday and slight damage to the grave led authorities to believe that it had been stolen. The theft is thought to have taken place between July 4 and July 12, according to the reports. Police opened a probe and called on possible witnesses to come forward.

Murnau died in a car accident in Santa Barbara in 1931 at the age of 42. His Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans won a two Oscars at the first-ever Academy Awards in 1929.

Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Stoker's family won a court case. All copies of the movies were ordered to be destroyed, but some prints survived and helped make the film a cult classic.